L.-Cpl. H. G. Warford, Pte. J. Baker, Pte. E. Bowes.
Battalion Headquarters was now in the old Mine Offices near the Red
Line, and just off the Bethune road, known as Cameron Castle. On the
night 28th/29th we were relieved and returned to Bully-Grenay. On May 29
a terrible tragedy occurred. In the course of a football match the Hun
dropped two bombs among the players, and we had terrible losses.
Regt.-Sergt.-Maj. Rankin, Sergt.-Drummer Goldsbury, and Pte. Lloyd
(Battalion runner) were men who in their own spheres it would be
difficult to equal. Rankin had been in every fight. He had won the
D.C.M. on the Somme, and two days after his death the news of the award
of a bar to his D.C.M. for his matchless bravery on the March retreat
was announced. It would be difficult to say how much the Battalion owed
to the energy and devotion of its senior warrant officer. Sergt.
Goldsbury had worked our drums up to a wonderful pitch of perfection. He
was a ceaseless worker—his energy and cheerfulness were a byword in the
Battalion. A splendid fellow in every way. Young Lloyd had been a runner
for a long time. On the Somme, through the Ypres fighting of 1917, at
Hargicourt, and right through the March retreat he had been one of the
bravest of the brave at all times. Nothing was too hard or too dangerous
for him to take on. He was always so cheerful and absolutely reliable.
Two signallers were also killed. It was indeed a cruel fate that these
men after facing death a thousand times should be killed at a football
match far away from the fight. There were very few dry eyes at the Bully
cemetery when we buried these brave men the next day.
June was on the whole a quiet month. Two deserters gave themselves up to
C Company, and the enemy attempted two or three raids on our trenches
unsuccessfully.
The month of June 1918 is chiefly remembered for the extraordinary
epidemic of influenza which swept through the British Army—and it is
believed in a worse form through the German Army. We lost temporarily
during the month upwards of 300 officers and men through this scourge.
For about ten days the Battalion was commanded by Maj. Esdaile of the
Queens, when the Commanding Officer was on leave and 2nd-in-Command down
with ’flu.
On the night of June 12/13 a party of B Company, under 2nd Lieut. Michie
and 2nd Lieut. Binney, got into the enemy’s trenches with the assistance
of a Bangalore torpedo. The following is the report on the patrol:
“A fighting patrol of two officers and two sections entered the enemy
trenches last night.
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